


A Bird in the Bed

by myrna123



Category: The Sentinel
Genre: Challenge: Get Jim and Blair in Bed, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-05-10
Updated: 2013-05-10
Packaged: 2017-12-11 05:36:37
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,763
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/794482
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/myrna123/pseuds/myrna123
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>An unexpected visitor leaves Blair unable to sleep in his own bed.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Bird in the Bed

Disclaimer: This story is in no way affiliated with UPN or Pet Fly Productions. The characters are their property, and this story is not meant to infringe upon their copyrights. 

Summary: This is an answer to the Get 'Em Into Bed Challenge 

Notes: Okay, one of the first rules of writing is: "Write what you know." Those of you who were IRC'ing with me some months ago will recognize that part of this story draws on real-life events. I've since recovered from my trauma and although it's not expressly stated in this piece, I'm sure that Blair will to. ;-) 

## A Bird in the Bed

by Myrna  


Jim spotted the loft's broken window from the parking lot. It didn't look overtly suspicious, but ever since Lash had so easily broken in, Jim wasn't about to take anything for granted. He and Blair quietly took the stairs up, pausing outside the door to listen for intruders. 

"It's clear," Jim said, extremely aware of Blair gripping the back of his shirt in his fist. Just to be safe, Jim kept his gun drawn as they entered their home. Glass from the broken window littered the floor of the living room. The break came from near the top of the floor-to-ceiling window, so Jim looked around for a ball or some kind of construction device which had probably caused it. Not finding anything, he shrugged and went upstairs to change his clothes. Blair disappeared into his bedroom to do the same. 

"Oh man!" came Blair's disgusted shout as the kid high-tailed it out of his bedroom. "That's *sick*, man! Totally sick!" 

Grabbing his gun from the bedside table, Jim bolted down the stairs. "What is it?" he asked, sweeping Blair behind him and heading for the bedroom. 

Blair shuddered. "Gross, man, it's on my bed!" Blair said, pushing Jim forward. 

Jim craned his neck to see into Blair's room, zeroing in on the unmade bed. 

"See it?" Blair asked. "Near the pillow? Oh MAN that's so fucking gross!" 

Jim caught site of something brown near the head of the bed. At first, he thought it was a rat, but upon closer inspection he realized it was a bird. That explained the broken window. 

With a chuckle, Jim clicked the safety back on his gun and walked out of the bedroom. "That's what we get for having such sparkling clean windows, huh Chief?" he said, heading to the kitchen for a beer. 

"What are you doing?" Blair asked. "Get rid of it!" 

"Me?" Jim said. "I'm not touchin' that thing. It's your room." 

"You're the landlord!" 

"Only if you were payin' rent," Jim shot back. "I'll find something to cover up the hole in the window. You dispose of the bird." 

Grumbling, Blair found an old towel and headed for his room. Keeping up an ongoing commentary of his disgust, he threw the towel over the bird, dumped it in a trash bag and carried it out to the dumpster. "God, that is so FOUL!" he said, slamming the door behind him and shuddering. 

Standing on a ladder so he could paste some cardboard over the whole in their window, Jim turned and grinned, but Blair held up his hand. "If you make some kind of bird joke with that, I'm going to knock you off the ladder," he warned. "And that's just for starters." 

"Yikes," Jim said. He finished taping the makeshift repair and jumped down off the ladder, watching with amusement as Blair headed back into his room with a bucket, a scrub brush, a bottle of Lestoil, a can of Comet and a package of sponges. "It's just a bird, Sandburg!" he said with a laugh. 

"More like a rat with wings!" Blair called. "God, was that disgusting or what?" 

"I thought you were some kind of nature boy," Jim said, settling on the couch to watch a ball game. "You don't run shrieking from your tent every time you see a bug, do you?" 

"It's all about expectation, Jim," Blair said. "Besides, an animal in the rain forest is far less likely to be some bacterial-infested, disease carrying vermin!" 

Later that evening, Jim ordered a pizza, and finally persuaded Blair to give his hyperactive cleaning a rest while they ate and watched the rest of the game. When it was over, Jim turned out the lights, said good night and headed up to bed. 

"Sandburg, what are you doing?" Jim asked, stopping short at the top of the stairs so that the boxer-clad younger man following behind bumped right into him. 

"Going to bed," Blair said, lifting his eyebrows and leaving his 'obviously,' unspoken. 

"There's a change of sheets in the linen closet," Jim pointed out, blocking Blair's path to his bed with the classic pose of a sentry. 

Blair gaped at Jim like he was crazy. "I'm not sleepin' in there, man. There's, like, Dead Bird Karma all over the place. It'll be gone tomorrow probably, but sleep in there tonight? No way." 

Jim nodded over the railing of the loft. "Then the couch is downstairs, Junior." 

Blair rolled his eyes. "It's freezing down there! Broken window, remember?" 

"So start a fire!" Jim said. "For Pete's sake, you're not sleeping up here with me!" 

"Why not?" Blair asked. 

Jim's mouth opened as he stared at the kid. Now was definitely not the time to mention the erotic images of the kid that had, of late, been swirling around his obviously deranged brain. "Sandburg, men don't do that, all right?" 

"Sigfried and Roy would probably disagree with you," Blair said, grinning in spite of himself. 

"Well, we're not Sigfried and Roy, are we?" Jim muttered. 

Blair shrugged and pushed past Jim, bouncing lightly on the bed. "Oh, I don't know," Blair said. "Sure they deal with tigers, and you deal with panthers, but it's kind of the same thing." 

"Sandburg," Jim groaned. "Would you come on? I'm tired, I've gotta be at the station at 10, I just want to get some sleep." 

"Me too!" Blair heartily agreed, lifting up the covers and climbing in. "Mmm, man, is it warm in here!" he said, grinning cheekily at his roommate. 

"Fine," Jim hrumphed. "*I'll* sleep on the couch then." 

Blair started laughing. "What is your problem, man?" 

*My problem?* Jim echoed to himself. *Oh nothing, if you don't count lusting after your male roommate after nearly 40 very happily heterosexual years...* 

"Blair, two grown men don't sleep in the same bed together!" 

"That is such a crock!" Blair said. 

"I'll rephrase. Two grown men who aren't..." 

"Ah ah ah, language, young man," Blair warned. 

Jim smirked at his partner. "Who aren't homosexuals," he clarified, pronouncing the word slowly and clearly for Blair's benefit. 

"Well, one of us is bisexual," Blair said, drawing that word out the same way Jim had. He grinned up at Jim, wrinkling his nose for effect. "Is that what's bothering you, Big Guy? You afraid of sleeping in the same bed with a queer? It's not contagious, you know." 

Jim looked like he was about to retort, then simply gave up with a long suffering sigh. "Just once I'd like to get my way around here," he grumbled as he got into his side of the bed. "Just once. Last I checked it was my name on the deed. God knows it's my name on the payment to the bank. But do I get one little lousy decision to go my way? No sir, not by a long shot." 

"Jim, I'm trying to get some sleep here," Blair said, the smile obvious in his tone. 

"Yeah, yeah, fine. Sleep then," Jim grumbled, turning on his side and taking most of the covers with him. 

Laughing, Blair grabbed them back and curled over on his side. "Night, Jim," he said sweetly and was treated to more grumbled complaints from his friend. 

They were quiet for awhile, but sleep seemed to elude both of them. 

"You never even thought about it?" Blair asked suddenly, as if picking up in the middle of an ongoing conversation. 

"Thought of what?" Jim asked. 

"Sex with another guy. I mean, you have to have thought of it before." 

"Why?" Jim asked, wondering if Blair was picking up some vibe from him. Oh God, the kid joked about having being able to tell...called it a gaydar...Oh jeez... 

"Come on, man. All that time in the army, on location, no women around..." 

"We had a job to do," Jim said. "And for the record, Darwin, grown men who *happen,* through circumstance, to be sharing the same sleeping space, do *not* discuss being with other guys. Got it?" 

Blair chuckled. "You are so uptight. We could make a fortune shoving lumps of coal up your ass and waiting for them..." 

"Sandburg!" Jim growled, sounding shocked. 

Now Blair laughed loudly. "Oh yeah, another rule," he said. "Grown men, who happen, through circumstance, to be sharing the same bed, do *not* discuss shoving things up another guy's ass..." 

"That's it, I'm going downstairs," Jim muttered. 

Still laughing, Blair grabbed his arm. "I'm sorry," he said, the laughter suggesting maybe he really wasn't. "I should know better than to offend your delicate sensibilities." 

"I swear to God, Sandburg, I have never known anyone like you," Jim said, but even though he growled the words, he didn't seem all that angry. 

"Yep, one of a kind, that's me," Blair agreed happily. 

The quiet was restored for a little while, though it was obvious neither one of them was close to falling asleep. 

"So, when did you start...thinking about men?" Jim asked casually. 

Blair shrugged. "I don't know. When do kids start thinking about that stuff. Twelve? Thirteen?" 

"So, how old were you when you, uh, acted on those thoughts?" Jim asked. 

Blair hitched up on his elbow and squinted at the older man. Finally, he shook his head. "Mmm, I don't think so, Big Guy," he said. 

"Come on, now, you brought it up," Jim reminded him. 

"Okay, but, like, hold all judgment calls 'til the end of the story, okay?" 

"Jeez, what did you do, pick up a sailor at a bus station?" 

Blair laughed. "Afraid I might've run into a buddy of yours?" he taunted. Blair got comfortable, settling down into story-telling mode. "It was the older brother of a friend of mine. I started taking college classes when I was 16. Spent the mornings at high school, then went up to the U in the afternoon. Anyway, Brian was in law school at the U, and I'd been to his house a few times with his brother, and so he was kind of surprised to see me studying in the library one day. He sat down at my table and was like, 'You're a friend of Tom's, right?' and I was like, 'Right.' and he says, 'so doesn't the high school have a library of its own?' and I say, 'Oh, well, yeah, but this is for the chem class I'm taking here at the U, so then he says, 'Have you had lunch,' and I had, but he's totally gorgeous, so naturally I say, 'no,' so then we..." 

"Wait a minute," Jim said. "He was a *law* student? How old was he?" 

Blair grinned and shrugged. "I don't know," he said, staring up at the ceiling as he did the math. "He was second year so he must have been 23 or 24, I guess." 

"Twenty-four?" Jim echoed. "That's against the law!" he said indignantly. "That's statutory rape!" 

"Down boy," Blair said wryly. "I think the statute of limitations is up on that one. Besides, I knew exactly what I was doing." He grinned again. "Except the mechanics, of course. And Brian had that part of it covered." Seeing Jim's angry frown, Blair said softly, "Hey, Jim, he was great. Everything a kid's first time should be, you know? Gentle and sweet and encouraging and fun as hell. Man, was I ever into him. Fell for him like you wouldn't believe. He was so radical, you know? Gonna get back all this reservation land for the Native Americans, stick it to the oil companies and the logging companies, represent the downtrodden getting rolled over by the Man..." Blair chuckled now and shook his head. 

"So what happened?" Jim asked. 

Blair shrugged again. "Oh, you know, life," he said philosophically. "We hung out together for almost a year, but then Brian graduated, I moved on. No big sob story or anything. I mean, how many of us are with the person we fell in love with when we were 16, huh?" 

"So what's this Defender of the Downtrodden doing now?" Jim asked, ridiculously jealous of the man. 

Blair moaned and sank into his pillow. "Oh God, it's just so awful I don't think I can tell you," he said, his voice muffled. 

"Talk, Sandburg," Jim said, using his best cop voice. 

Blair laughed and hitched back up on his elbow. "He's living in Radcliffe," he said, sounding chagrined. 

"Radcliffe?" Jim said, surprised to hear the name of Cascade's ritziest suburb. 

"Oh yeah, talk about a sellout! He's married with 2.5 children, minivan and Mercedes in the garage. He's working as some hotshot corporate attorney. I was, like, majorly disappointed when I found out." 

"I guess so," Jim said, laughing along with the kid. 

"So, who was your first?" Blair asked. 

"I told you, Sandburg, I never even *thought* of a guy like that!" 

Blair sputtered with laughter. "You doth protest too much, me thinks!" he said. "I meant with a girl, Jim!" 

"Oh, yeah, right," Jim said, feeling flustered and embarrassed. "That would be Tammi Parker. With an i, thank you very much, dotted with a heart, as I recall. We were 17, and we did it at her beach house the first weekend of the summer." 

"Yeah?" Blair said with interest. 

"Yeah," Jim said and smiled at the memory. "God, we were so clumsy, scared to death she was gonna get pregnant, that her parents were gonna walk in on us. We're lucky neither one of us broke anything vital. Mm, 1974. Now *that* was a great summer." 

Blair started to say something, but Jim rolled over onto his side and glared at him. "So help me, Sandburg, if you tell me how old you were that summer, I'm shoving you up and out of here by way of the skylight." 

Blair laughed, but held his arms up in surrender. "Jeez, are you sensitive or *what?* I wasn't going to say anything." 

The quiet that followed was companionable and relaxing. 

"You ever regret the way it happened?" Jim asked. 

"No," Blair said. "Everything that happens leads you to where you are, you know? And I'm pretty happy where I am. I don't regret anything." 

Jim knew Blair was speaking figuratively, that he meant he was happy in a general sense, not specifically. Not that he was happy *there,* right there, in Jim's bed. 

"How 'bout you?" Blair asked. He was starting to sound drowsy, and Jim found the softness of his voice disturbingly arousing. 

"I'm happy too, with where I am, where I ended up," he said clumsily. 

Eyes closed, Blair smiled. "No, I meant, are you happy where *I* am," he teased. 

Jim grinned in spite of himself. "Wouldn't do me any good to complain, would it, Chief?" he said in a husky voice. 

Blair chuckled and snuggled down into the sheets. 

Jim's breath caught in his throat. Damn, he looked...beautiful. There was no other word for it. The kid looked beautiful and there he was, stuck in bed with him, trying to act like he'd never had a thought in his head for the man. What a joke. 

"Sandburg?" 

"Hm?" 

"I lied." 

"'Bout what?" 

"About other guys. About...not thinking about them. I have. One in particular anyway." 

Blair smiled sleepily. "I know," he said softly. 

Jim was quiet for a moment. "You know?" he asked. 

"I know," Blair said confidently. 

"How?" 

"You're not all that discreet," Blair teased gently. "I mean, how many times could it be coincidence that you're standing around in the hallway when I get out of the shower?" 

Jim chuckled. "Some ex-Covert Ops soldier I am, huh?" 

"Besides," Blair continued, "most of the research I've found suggests a sexual relationship between Sentinel and Guide." 

"What?" Jim asked, abruptly sitting up. "Jesus, Sandburg, you might have thought about passing that little tidbit of information on to me!" 

"What?" Blair asked, waving away the idea. "I just assumed it was a convenience kind of thing. I mean, in the jungle, the Sentinel and Guide would have spent months by themselves. Here in the city, that's not really an issue, so I figured the theory wouldn't apply. But then, after we moved in together, and I realized you were maybe feeling what I was feeling, well then..." 

"Then what?" Jim asked. 

Blair shrugged. "Then that poor bird sacrificed himself so that I might come to your bed and find out once and for all what's going on with us." 

Jim shrewdly looked his guide over. "That was an accident, wasn't it, Sandburg?" he asked dryly. "I mean, you didn't murder an innocent bird just to test your theory, did you?" 

"Jim, I'm shocked!" Blair said. "I don't believe in animal testing, you know that. Maybe your spirit guide talked the bird into committing hara-kiri. You know, the good of the many outweighing the good of the few and all that." 

"Yeah right, my spirit guide uses Star Trek movies to motivate the animal kingdom." 

"All I'm sayin', Detective, is that I didn't willfully cause the death of our fine feathered friend." 

"So here we are," Jim said. "Testing your theory. Are we passing?" 

"Make a pass, and I'll tell you," Blair said, smiling invitingly, his eyes serious. 

"Should this feel so...right?" Jim asked, sounding dazed. 

"Sometimes, two people just fit," Blair answered with a shrug. "Doesn't matter if they should or shouldn't but they do. That's us, Jim. We fit. Easily. Effortlessly. How can it *not* be right when it feels like this?" 

Jim slid his arm under Blair's neck. "Would it make you feel uncomfortable if I told you how beautiful I think you are?" he whispered. 

Blair shook his head. 

"You're the most beautiful person I've ever known," Jim said, and smiled to finally have the freedom to say it. "I could spend a lifetime just looking at you. You're so beautiful, Blair. And the more I know of you, the closer you get to me, the more beautiful you become." 

"That's how you are to me," Blair said, urging Jim's face closer to his. "Every day I love you more, want you more, need you more." 

"Love," Jim whispered the word. "That's what this is, isn't it?" he asked, as if just realizing it now. 

Blair smiled and nodded. "Yeah," was all he said. 

Jim slowly brought his lips to Blair's and they kissed, sweetly, reverently. When they parted, they spent a long time just looking at one another. 

"Now what?" Jim asked quietly. 

"Now, I'm gonna kiss you back," Blair said conversationally. 

A big grin split Jim's face. "And then what?" 

"And then I'm going to drain every last drop of come from your body," Blair said. He rolled over, pinning Jim beneath him. He covered Jim's mouth and kissed him, gentle but insistent, using his strength so Jim wouldn't forget for an instant that it was another man kissing him, holding him. 

"And then what?" Jim asked breathlessly when the kiss finally broke. 

"And then, you're going to be unconscious for a week to ten days," Blair replied, laughing at his bravado. "And then," he nuzzled under Jim's chin, kissing from just under one ear to just under the other, "you're going to return the favor." 

Jim shuddered, stunned at the sudden onslaught of desire coursing through his bloodstream. "This is new to me," he cautioned. 

"I'm a good teacher," Blair reminded him. "And you're a fast learner." 

"I can't play this like a game," Jim said, forcing Blair back up to his mouth. "I've gotta go into this knowing it's for keeps. That's not really your style." 

"I was waiting for you," Blair replied between deep kisses. "I never made it a secret to anyone that I wasn't in it for the long haul. That's why there was quantity, man." 

"When did...when did you know?" Jim asked, conversation becoming more difficult as Blair's hands took to exploring. 

"I never didn't," Blair said, groaning into Jim's chest when the big man started some exploring of his own. "What can I say? You're my destiny, man." 

"It's not that easy," Jim moaned, his hand snaking around behind Blair's head, crushing the young man to his chest as Blair laved his nipple. 

Blair bit down hard once, then twice, as Jim shouted and arched up into him. "Right here, right now, it is that easy," Blair said, panting slightly. He looked up at Jim, his desire mirrored, intensified by the big man's eyes. "Here it will *always* be easy!" he said fiercely. "There's no one but us. What we want, what we need, what we have to give each other, that's all that matters here, and it will always, *always* be easy!" 

Jim nodded, mesmerized by the conviction in Blair's voice. "Yeah, you're right," he whispered. "Oh God, Blair, you're right." 

"Out there, that's where it'll be hard," Blair said. "But never here. This is our safe place, you know?" 

"I know," Jim said, utterly convinced with just a few words from the younger man. "I love you, Blair." 

"I love you, too. Oh man, it feels nice to finally say that, huh?" 

"Yeah, it does," Jim agreed. He laughed suddenly. "Can you believe all of this came about because of that bird?" 

Blair joined in with his laughter. "Well, you know what they say, Jim." 

"What's that, Chief?" Jim didn't even try to hold back the grin. 

"A bird in the bed is worth a roll in the hay." 

"You're gonna pay for that, Sandburg," Jim said when he was finished groaning. He rolled onto his back, bringing Blair over on top of him. "Don't know when, don't know how, but you're gonna pay." 

Blair laughed and wiggled excitedly against his Sentinel. "Oh yeah," he breathed, "an IOU already!"   
  


* * *

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